18 ms·

As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

159 points by elsewhen 5y ago

elsewhen 5y ago
https://archive.is/YxrEB https://archive.is/YxrEB
4t3gar 5y ago
Rachel Walensky's face needs to be beaten with a sledgehammer. Fascist cock-sucking liberal piece of shit.
Mountain_Skies 5y ago
Ratings for sporting events are down dramatically. People generally aren't returning to movie theaters. According to the article, overall media consumption is up 30 minutes per week, which makes me wonder if what happened was mostly a case of habit destruction. Now that habits have been disturbed, trends that were already taking place were accelerated. Is there any reason to think people will break their new habits to go back to their old habits as freedoms are slowly restored? AMC is looking into showing live events such as college football, world sports, and concerts. So they seem aware that movies are no longer enough to keep them afloat. Can they build new habits? Be a family friendly alternative to the sports bar for alumni groups? In a landscape of broken habits, maybe, maybe not. Big screens at home are cheap and so are the food and drinks. What's missing is a sense of community. Can they deliver on that?
- briefcomment 5y ago
  N=1, I spend all my media time on Youtube. Haven't watched a show in years. Watched some of the NBA playoffs though. Also watched Tenet in a huge empty theater.
  - akudha 5y ago
    I wonder if this will result in more outrageous, more clickbait junk from media outlets, desperate for audience attention. Even more than it is now. I am spending more time on YouTube too. I used to watch Netflix, but it has been downhill last 3 years or so.
    - ehnto 5y ago
      What's strange to me is that while YouTube seems to be stealing a lot of attention, the creators on the platform are so often complaining the platform and having to build out non-platform revenue streams in order for it to make sense. Is it that they expect more than their fair share, or is YouTube leveraging their creators more than they should, or are adblockers the issue? I'm not sure what it is, it just surprises me that there seems to be unwavering consumption and creation on the platform but the numbers aren't lining up for the creators.
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
        I don't know if this is a case of fair or unfair, so much as there is a lot of potential value that isn't captured by YouTube ads, which the creators would be silly to leave on the table, but which Google has not historically been positioned to capture. The ability to join channels is an attempt to make inroads on that value, but it seems like it will take some doing before that vehicle catches up to Patreon if it ever does.
      - showerst 5y ago
        Another possibility you didn't mention is that many creators aren't creating as much value as they think they're worth.
      - kortilla 5y ago
        Anyone can be a creator. You have to be pulling in millions of views from people that are valuable to advertise to (not all views are created equally) in order to make a career out of it.
        5y ago
  - ehnto 5y ago
    > Also watched Tenet in a huge empty theater. Same, what a great experience. I don't mind the experience of a busy theatre but watching a movie in a comfy centre seat all by your lonesome is pretty rad.
- brundolf 5y ago
  I'm looking forward to returning to a movie theater. Though only Alamo, which was really the only one I went to pre-pandemic anyway, because the rest of the industry was already in shambles. Alamo is the only chain I know of whose experience has evolved past "big screen and big speakers and overpriced snacks".
  - bob1029 5y ago
    Alamo is amazing. More businesses should follow their example.
    - brundolf 5y ago
      I think their secret is being run by people who are actually into movies, instead of people who are only into money
      - Animats 5y ago
        Their "secret" is a liquor license.
        tolbish 5y ago
        There are several movie theaters that serve alcohol. The Alamo Drafthouse is the only place that tries to make the movie going experience a genuine blast.
        Elidrake24 5y ago
        Ha, AMC has a liquor license around here, but since re-opening I've still had: 1. A movie start 30 minutes late as they had forgotten about the showing 2. 30 minutes worth of ads after the supposed start time of the film 3. God awful food whose quality rivals Circle K at quadruple the prices 4. Alcoholic beverages that are several times more expensive than the plastic bottle their liquors come from Not to say all theaters are this way, but certainly the only theaters I have access to around me are. Decided to give up after the third horrible repeat. I do miss the old independent theater from down in Tucson, they suffered from none of these issues; unfortunately nothing like that where I am now. Can't speak to Alamo.
- fullshark 5y ago
  Movies, as in 2 hour stories that you consume in a physical location outside your house, are never gonna return to what they were. What will survive is "a fun location outside the house to watch a screen with incredible sound + picture" with your friends / a date / kids. That market should remain lucrative, cause people aren't gonna wanna be in the house all day / weekend and it's gonna remain a relatively cheap night out.
- dillondoyle 5y ago
  Live sports is wrapped around groups a lot too. Which also begs the question of are people actually watching the ads in a bar or party.. The move to streaming for sports is bad. I signed up for paid Hulu to watch olympics. It's grossly expensive, with ads still, and really confusing. I learned the hard way the only way to actually watch the events I wanted to I had to advance DVR them. Instead of just listing them as videos, like netflix youtube and the rest of the world. The only stand alone videos I have access too without DVR are short 5 minute summary clips. And the DVR recorded broadcasts you have to manually figure out and skip over commercials and manually find the events in a 2 hour broadcast. I remember the super old tv connected DVRs recognized ads to skip. PornHub and YouTube can automatically mark content changes on the timeline.
- drewg123 5y ago
  Movie theaters can't go out of business soon enough for me. I hate being trapped with rude people talking and using their phones during the movie. Not to mention people who don't believe in baby sitters, and bring their infant or toddler along for a good scream fest in the middle of the show. And don't get me started on loud eaters, flatulent people, etc. I think they've been on borrowed time since the 80s, when video stores got big. First run movies are their only hook now, and they're loosing even that with movies like Black Widow premiering on streaming. I hope more films premiere on streaming.
  - amelius 5y ago
    Uh, you can just watch movies at home if you don't like theaters ...
    - drewg123 5y ago
      But not first run movies that have a theatrical window.
      - theshrike79 5y ago
        Can you list the movies that didn't get a simultaneous digital release during the last year or so? Tenet, and...? I have a bunch of pre-paid movie tickets still from the pre-pandemic days. Haven't used a single one, since all the movies I wanted to watch I can see at home for around 25€.
        drewg123 5y ago
        Stillwater, which is the first movie in a while I've wanted to see.
  - glandium 5y ago
    > I hate being trapped with rude people talking and using their phones during the movie. FWIW, it's not like that in France, Sweden, Belgium and Japan, to cite countries where I've been to the movies.
- cblconfederate 5y ago
  correct. the trend was down even before covid, it's just that instead of covid people's attention was in politics, and often stupid politics. I somehow wish the attention will shift to who can develop a vaccine/cure first, but i m not holding my breath for that
- cronix 5y ago
  In the last year I've cancelled my cable service, totally deleted facebook and twitter accounts, quit watching (new) movies, quit watching pro sports and several other things. Why? I feel like I'm being preached to constantly rather than entertained, and not just a little bit here and there. It's constant. I refuse to pay for it or be a part of it. It offers no value to me anymore. Why would I pay for or be a part of something that just irritates me? It seems most movies are just running the same formula for the last 20 years and, well, I've seen it. Hyper-realistic non-stop over the top garbage and woke super heroes. Yay. There is no originality or good story line, with few exceptions. It's all messaging, and it's completely obvious. Messaging was always there, sure, but now it's just overly blatant and constant. It's not just a well-placed can of Coke in the shot. And sports...used to be an avid NBA fan. Haven't watched a single game in the last year+ since it became about political messaging rather than athletic prowess and physical competition. If I want to watch political opinions, I'll watch a political news show - not a "professional" basketball game. In short, the products suck and not worth my time or money, so I no longer participate.
  - neolog 5y ago
    relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3WgiMftaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3WgiMftaU
- drevil-v2 5y ago
  >Ratings for sporting events are down dramatically I think maybe some of the kneeling and other political / social virtue signalling by sporting codes are having an effect too. I know I am fed up. The same ideology is broadcast at work, on the news, on art/film/theatre/books, social media and now sports. I feel like the protagonist in "A Clockwork Orange" with my eyelids stapled open and being force fed a mind virus.
  - nichos 5y ago
    That's what did it for me. I was already a bit sour with the amount of ads in the NFL, but when it became political on the field, that was enough. Agree or disagree with the position, but I watch sports to take a break from reality.
    - edmundsauto 5y ago
      I suspect most of the athletes are okay with you not watching. For them, sports are reality and not escapism.
      - drevil-v2 5y ago
        Perhaps the tens of millions of dollars in annual income driven by television broadcasting and advertising sales is also a large part of their reality and motivation, no?
        edmundsauto 5y ago
        What percentage do you estimate when you say “a large part”? I agree that it is perhaps possible that some olympians derive motivation from potential economic returns. I think that’s what you’re trying to say, right? I posit that is not the primary motivator, and projecting motivations on a group of people tells us more about your motivations than theirs.
underseacables 5y ago
I think people are just exhausted and numb to what Hollywood, etc has to offer.
- Animats 5y ago
  I've had it with the Marvel Overextended Universe, and Star [Wars|Gate|Trek|Craft]. Time for something new.
  - brundolf 5y ago
    I've had it with scripts written by corporate committees. Star Wars can be good, just not under Disney's heel.
    - kelnos 5y ago
      The thing that makes me sad is that IMO the best Star Wars film that came out since the Disney acquisition was Rogue One (even though it trampled all over the expanded universe novel Rebel Dawn, which I loved). Likely Disney views that movie as their second-worst Star Wars outing (after Solo), while I enjoyed it far more than episodes 7, 8, or 9. On the optimistic side, I absolutely love The Mandalorian (which I didn't expect, and resisted watching until after season 2 was complete), and I'm looking forward to The Book of Boba Fett as well. But I absolutely agree with you on the failure of "corporate written-by-committee". I think The Mandalorian is so great in no small part because it's run by a small number of people who really love Star Wars and have been fortunate enough to be granted near-complete creative control.
      - brundolf 5y ago
        I watched the first episode or two and wasn't that impressed. It just felt like a pretty generic action/adventure storyline with Star Wars... stuff, plastered over it in a fairly superficial way. Which is how I feel about most big franchise movies these days; they all just feel like cookie-cutter action flicks with some IP draped over top to promote the theme park and/or Fortnite tie-in. Nothing interesting or surprising ever happens. Nothing worth mentioning in terms of emotional spectrum. Even the set design - which is always very handsomely executed - is just ruthlessly on-brand. It looks precisely like "Star Wars stuff" or "Marvel stuff" or whatever, without exception, to a point where it all just becomes branded noise. Not a single thing is new or out of place. It constantly calls back and feeds into itself; nothing new under the sun. I agree that Rogue One was a little bit of an exception, at least in terms of plot/emotions. I would also put Episode 8 in that category. Maybe I'm just watching the wrong kinds of movies.
JadeNB 5y ago
I was wondering if even The Economist was so out of touch as to fail to notice that the trend was moving away from lockdowns lifting, but I see that the article is from July 3, when things looked rather different.
- elzbardico 5y ago
  Are lockdowns coming back in the UK for real? I had the opposite impression from the news in the last two weeks. Some concern about variants, a push for vaccine passports from Boris’ cabinet, but no much talk of lockdowns. Please remember, The Economist is a British magazine. There is a world outside American borders.
  - JadeNB 5y ago
    I expect lockdowns to come back neither in the US nor in the UK, but hope for them to come back in both places.
    - brink 5y ago
      Yeah, you can keep your economic and psychological ruin to yourself, thanks.
      - JadeNB 5y ago
        Nobody, including me, thinks lockdowns are good, but the effects of removing them too early (as my residence in the US did) seem to me to be even worse.
    - heurisko 5y ago
      In the UK, lockdowns doubled mental health referrals amongst young people [1] and there was a sharp increase in alcohol related deaths [2]. I hope they don't return, given we now have a vaccine. I also doubt their efficacy, with cases declining in some cases before lockdowns began. They are not a cost-free public health tool, and it is unknown whether they have caused more harm than good. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/young-mental-health-referrals-double-in-england-after-lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/young-mental... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/surge-in-alcohol-related-deaths-in-england-during-lockdown-report-finds https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/surge-in-alc...
hmsshagatsea 5y ago
How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again?
- mycodesucks 5y ago
  Nah, more of the same super hero garbage please, uhg.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- jondwillis 5y ago
  May I direct you to every single A24 film?
  - kmlx 5y ago
    there are lots of a24 studios out there. but they’re tiny, they release few films with modest revenues.
- kmlx 5y ago
  not sure if this is coming back anytime soon: 1. games are a much bigger market than movies, which makes hollywood even more risk averse than usual 2. superhero movies make most income, sucking up all the talent 3. huge emphasis on TV series in the last decade, again sucking up all the talent for these three reasons i’m not sure if i’ll see another sin city/training day/etc in the near future
  - tayo42 5y ago
    Tv is a better format for visual story telling then movies could ever be. now that we have streaming its not bound to time limits or irrelevant commercial pacing. The stories are longer and can be more in depth. Does TV get the best talent though? For some reason I thought they get paid less despite doing alot more work. All those actors from got went on to try movies afterwards.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
This would be the best thing for improved mental health in many years.
grae_QED 5y ago
Good. I hope they all go out of business. Their predatory practices are the reason why social media is so toxic. I'm honestly amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be and they are probably over spending on them [1]. [1] https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/researchdetail?guid=ea2451f1-08f0-11e7-9872-0050569b3e41 https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/resear...
- the-dude 5y ago
  I know half of my advertisement budget is wasted, I just don't know which half. Plus your source is about TV ads only.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- TechBro8615 5y ago
  The largest media companies are loss-leaders for telecom conglomerates. They don't actually need to be profitable.
  - the-dude 5y ago
    Could you expand on this? I don't get it.
    - TechBro8615 5y ago
      I mean that Comcast, ATT and Verizon collectively own a large portion of US media corporations – including CNN and MSNBC. You can quibble about the semantics of ownership, but the control of media is concentrated in a small cluster of last century's monopolies. There is an infographic here: https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-90-media-america-illusion-choice-objectivity-2020/ https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-9...
      - the-dude 5y ago
anonfornoreason 5y ago
I’d be interested in seeing a regional breakdown of media consumption trends. Echoing several other comments, my media consumption habits were broken during 2020. People in the Pacific Northwest flooded outdoors and started camping and doing other outdoor activities at a record pace. That alone had to have shifted demand for passive media consumption. Obviously tv shows and movies are different from checking online news nonstop (something that was driven higher during pandemic) so any insights would have to be broken out by medium and type.
- chaircher 5y ago
  Yeah I started spending loads of time at home where I have control over my environment and found I didn't have to contantly turn to media for escapism any more. And because I'm not oversaturated with content any more I'm able to rengage with things like fiction books and naff movies that I wouldn't have had the patience for in the sea of outrage I was stuck in before 2020. In turn this has stopped me being burnt out by sheer interaction/pseudointeraction and I'm able to do outdoor activities without my headphones on and risk bumping into people I know who might want a chat. It's made me a lot pickier though, we all talk about the high prices of cinema, but where I live they're not very pleasant environments and why would I expose myself to that any more? I think perhaps because the pace of life has slowed down durring lockdown people's decision making can keep up a bit better and this is reflected in higher standards as we choose what to reengage with
4e530344963049 5y ago
https://trimread.org/articles/44 https://trimread.org/articles/44
jacob2484 5y ago
How much woke virtue signaling can one take? Even Bill Maher agrees.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > Even Bill Maher agrees. Bill Maher is a shallow elite contrarian, not a progressive that it would make sense to say “Even” about when he agrees with criticism of something perceived to be on the left.
  - spiderice 5y ago
    I love how now that he disagrees he's suddenly "not a progressive".
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      I love that now that you encounter a position that I've held and expressed consistently for long enough that it could legally vote if it was a person, and which has been quite common on the Left for at least as long, you act like its a sudden change. I get that he opposes some things sacred to the Right, and that to people on the Right that makes him Left, but...
    - faeriechangling 5y ago
      Bill Maher back around 9/11 had a slide deck act where he justified racial profiling in airports with a picture of a fundamentalist Muslim in traditional garb going through airport security. He once literally hosted a talk show called "Politically Incorrect" He has always been "I'm leftist, but I have a politically incorrect anti-establishment edge.". He has been saying things like this for decades.
      - slothtrop 5y ago
        Politically Incorrect was canned when, in disagreement on teh show, he said the terrorists weren't cowards, that bombing a country (Iraq) including innocents from offshore was cowardice. Referring of course to physical / mortal cowardice, not moral cowardice, in which case he's right.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
I can totally imagine that. I cancelled my TV subscription as it was all about corona all the time. So depressing. Now that I've done without for so long I don't think ever getting live TV again. My use of mainstream news sites has also dropped to near zero, just a one check per day. I focus more on tech news these days (stuff that really matters :) )
- marto1 5y ago
  Now realize a lot of people just..kept watching. Scary stuff.
  - amelius 5y ago
    It was just the same news over and over again ...
daemonhunter 5y ago
Looks like it’s all just in time for delta
JCM9 5y ago
Good content wins. Media has gotten away with producing junk for too long. Media complaining about a lack of “attention” is like employers complaining about a lack of workers. Give people a good job and pay them well and you’ll have no trouble finding workers. Produce good content and you’ll have no trouble getting eyeballs. Pretend like old normals still apply and it will be painful on both fronts.
- coffeeling 5y ago
  It's not just that they've gotten away with producing junk, it's that they're actively becoming / making themselves more junky by the minute.
paulpauper 5y ago
Thankfully, with delta varient the media can rejoice for more lockdowns
jgalt212 5y ago
The Delta variant is their great white hope.
Fellshard 5y ago
If you think they'll simply allow this to happen, I've got a UHF channel in Brooklyn to sell you.
robertofmoria 5y ago
There is this strange talk of breaking the habit when it comes to entertainment. The "habit" was already breaking, but not because people do not want to go to theaters. People were turning off, tuning out, and not going because shows, sports, and movies were no longer providing escapes. Everything is becoming political and lecturing.
kbos87 5y ago
This is already happening. I work for a large b2b saas company - many of our attention-oriented metrics (eg traffic, top of funnel lead generation) are off by 20-40% year over year. We are hearing that peers are seeing the same thing. People are sick of screens and relishing the offline world, which is even touching B2B.
jtsiskin 5y ago
Great new conspiracy theory, that the media is purposely trying to make the virus seem worse so people will stay inside looking at ads. Or further “evidence” that the virus was created by the global elite for wealth and control Fortunately not many conspiracy theorists likely subscribe to the economist

159 points by elsewhen 5y ago

elsewhen 5y ago

https://archive.is/YxrEB https://archive.is/YxrEB

4t3gar 5y ago

Rachel Walensky's face needs to be beaten with a sledgehammer. Fascist cock-sucking liberal piece of shit.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago

Ratings for sporting events are down dramatically. People generally aren't returning to movie theaters. According to the article, overall media consumption is up 30 minutes per week, which makes me wonder if what happened was mostly a case of habit destruction. Now that habits have been disturbed, trends that were already taking place were accelerated. Is there any reason to think people will break their new habits to go back to their old habits as freedoms are slowly restored? AMC is looking into showing live events such as college football, world sports, and concerts. So they seem aware that movies are no longer enough to keep them afloat. Can they build new habits? Be a family friendly alternative to the sports bar for alumni groups? In a landscape of broken habits, maybe, maybe not. Big screens at home are cheap and so are the food and drinks. What's missing is a sense of community. Can they deliver on that?

briefcomment 5y ago
N=1, I spend all my media time on Youtube. Haven't watched a show in years. Watched some of the NBA playoffs though. Also watched Tenet in a huge empty theater.
- akudha 5y ago
  I wonder if this will result in more outrageous, more clickbait junk from media outlets, desperate for audience attention. Even more than it is now. I am spending more time on YouTube too. I used to watch Netflix, but it has been downhill last 3 years or so.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    What's strange to me is that while YouTube seems to be stealing a lot of attention, the creators on the platform are so often complaining the platform and having to build out non-platform revenue streams in order for it to make sense. Is it that they expect more than their fair share, or is YouTube leveraging their creators more than they should, or are adblockers the issue? I'm not sure what it is, it just surprises me that there seems to be unwavering consumption and creation on the platform but the numbers aren't lining up for the creators.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      I don't know if this is a case of fair or unfair, so much as there is a lot of potential value that isn't captured by YouTube ads, which the creators would be silly to leave on the table, but which Google has not historically been positioned to capture. The ability to join channels is an attempt to make inroads on that value, but it seems like it will take some doing before that vehicle catches up to Patreon if it ever does.
    - showerst 5y ago
      Another possibility you didn't mention is that many creators aren't creating as much value as they think they're worth.
    - kortilla 5y ago
      Anyone can be a creator. You have to be pulling in millions of views from people that are valuable to advertise to (not all views are created equally) in order to make a career out of it.
      - 5y ago
- ehnto 5y ago
  > Also watched Tenet in a huge empty theater. Same, what a great experience. I don't mind the experience of a busy theatre but watching a movie in a comfy centre seat all by your lonesome is pretty rad.
brundolf 5y ago
I'm looking forward to returning to a movie theater. Though only Alamo, which was really the only one I went to pre-pandemic anyway, because the rest of the industry was already in shambles. Alamo is the only chain I know of whose experience has evolved past "big screen and big speakers and overpriced snacks".
- bob1029 5y ago
  Alamo is amazing. More businesses should follow their example.
  - brundolf 5y ago
    I think their secret is being run by people who are actually into movies, instead of people who are only into money
    - Animats 5y ago
      Their "secret" is a liquor license.
      - tolbish 5y ago
        There are several movie theaters that serve alcohol. The Alamo Drafthouse is the only place that tries to make the movie going experience a genuine blast.
      - Elidrake24 5y ago
        Ha, AMC has a liquor license around here, but since re-opening I've still had: 1. A movie start 30 minutes late as they had forgotten about the showing 2. 30 minutes worth of ads after the supposed start time of the film 3. God awful food whose quality rivals Circle K at quadruple the prices 4. Alcoholic beverages that are several times more expensive than the plastic bottle their liquors come from Not to say all theaters are this way, but certainly the only theaters I have access to around me are. Decided to give up after the third horrible repeat. I do miss the old independent theater from down in Tucson, they suffered from none of these issues; unfortunately nothing like that where I am now. Can't speak to Alamo.
fullshark 5y ago
Movies, as in 2 hour stories that you consume in a physical location outside your house, are never gonna return to what they were. What will survive is "a fun location outside the house to watch a screen with incredible sound + picture" with your friends / a date / kids. That market should remain lucrative, cause people aren't gonna wanna be in the house all day / weekend and it's gonna remain a relatively cheap night out.
dillondoyle 5y ago
Live sports is wrapped around groups a lot too. Which also begs the question of are people actually watching the ads in a bar or party.. The move to streaming for sports is bad. I signed up for paid Hulu to watch olympics. It's grossly expensive, with ads still, and really confusing. I learned the hard way the only way to actually watch the events I wanted to I had to advance DVR them. Instead of just listing them as videos, like netflix youtube and the rest of the world. The only stand alone videos I have access too without DVR are short 5 minute summary clips. And the DVR recorded broadcasts you have to manually figure out and skip over commercials and manually find the events in a 2 hour broadcast. I remember the super old tv connected DVRs recognized ads to skip. PornHub and YouTube can automatically mark content changes on the timeline.
drewg123 5y ago
Movie theaters can't go out of business soon enough for me. I hate being trapped with rude people talking and using their phones during the movie. Not to mention people who don't believe in baby sitters, and bring their infant or toddler along for a good scream fest in the middle of the show. And don't get me started on loud eaters, flatulent people, etc. I think they've been on borrowed time since the 80s, when video stores got big. First run movies are their only hook now, and they're loosing even that with movies like Black Widow premiering on streaming. I hope more films premiere on streaming.
- amelius 5y ago
  Uh, you can just watch movies at home if you don't like theaters ...
  - drewg123 5y ago
    But not first run movies that have a theatrical window.
    - theshrike79 5y ago
      Can you list the movies that didn't get a simultaneous digital release during the last year or so? Tenet, and...? I have a bunch of pre-paid movie tickets still from the pre-pandemic days. Haven't used a single one, since all the movies I wanted to watch I can see at home for around 25€.
      - drewg123 5y ago
        Stillwater, which is the first movie in a while I've wanted to see.
- glandium 5y ago
  > I hate being trapped with rude people talking and using their phones during the movie. FWIW, it's not like that in France, Sweden, Belgium and Japan, to cite countries where I've been to the movies.
cblconfederate 5y ago
correct. the trend was down even before covid, it's just that instead of covid people's attention was in politics, and often stupid politics. I somehow wish the attention will shift to who can develop a vaccine/cure first, but i m not holding my breath for that
cronix 5y ago
In the last year I've cancelled my cable service, totally deleted facebook and twitter accounts, quit watching (new) movies, quit watching pro sports and several other things. Why? I feel like I'm being preached to constantly rather than entertained, and not just a little bit here and there. It's constant. I refuse to pay for it or be a part of it. It offers no value to me anymore. Why would I pay for or be a part of something that just irritates me? It seems most movies are just running the same formula for the last 20 years and, well, I've seen it. Hyper-realistic non-stop over the top garbage and woke super heroes. Yay. There is no originality or good story line, with few exceptions. It's all messaging, and it's completely obvious. Messaging was always there, sure, but now it's just overly blatant and constant. It's not just a well-placed can of Coke in the shot. And sports...used to be an avid NBA fan. Haven't watched a single game in the last year+ since it became about political messaging rather than athletic prowess and physical competition. If I want to watch political opinions, I'll watch a political news show - not a "professional" basketball game. In short, the products suck and not worth my time or money, so I no longer participate.
- neolog 5y ago
  relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3WgiMftaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3WgiMftaU
drevil-v2 5y ago
>Ratings for sporting events are down dramatically I think maybe some of the kneeling and other political / social virtue signalling by sporting codes are having an effect too. I know I am fed up. The same ideology is broadcast at work, on the news, on art/film/theatre/books, social media and now sports. I feel like the protagonist in "A Clockwork Orange" with my eyelids stapled open and being force fed a mind virus.
- nichos 5y ago
  That's what did it for me. I was already a bit sour with the amount of ads in the NFL, but when it became political on the field, that was enough. Agree or disagree with the position, but I watch sports to take a break from reality.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    I suspect most of the athletes are okay with you not watching. For them, sports are reality and not escapism.
    - drevil-v2 5y ago
      Perhaps the tens of millions of dollars in annual income driven by television broadcasting and advertising sales is also a large part of their reality and motivation, no?
      - edmundsauto 5y ago
        What percentage do you estimate when you say “a large part”? I agree that it is perhaps possible that some olympians derive motivation from potential economic returns. I think that’s what you’re trying to say, right? I posit that is not the primary motivator, and projecting motivations on a group of people tells us more about your motivations than theirs.

underseacables 5y ago

I think people are just exhausted and numb to what Hollywood, etc has to offer.

Animats 5y ago
I've had it with the Marvel Overextended Universe, and Star [Wars|Gate|Trek|Craft]. Time for something new.
- brundolf 5y ago
  I've had it with scripts written by corporate committees. Star Wars can be good, just not under Disney's heel.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    The thing that makes me sad is that IMO the best Star Wars film that came out since the Disney acquisition was Rogue One (even though it trampled all over the expanded universe novel Rebel Dawn, which I loved). Likely Disney views that movie as their second-worst Star Wars outing (after Solo), while I enjoyed it far more than episodes 7, 8, or 9. On the optimistic side, I absolutely love The Mandalorian (which I didn't expect, and resisted watching until after season 2 was complete), and I'm looking forward to The Book of Boba Fett as well. But I absolutely agree with you on the failure of "corporate written-by-committee". I think The Mandalorian is so great in no small part because it's run by a small number of people who really love Star Wars and have been fortunate enough to be granted near-complete creative control.
    - brundolf 5y ago
      I watched the first episode or two and wasn't that impressed. It just felt like a pretty generic action/adventure storyline with Star Wars... stuff, plastered over it in a fairly superficial way. Which is how I feel about most big franchise movies these days; they all just feel like cookie-cutter action flicks with some IP draped over top to promote the theme park and/or Fortnite tie-in. Nothing interesting or surprising ever happens. Nothing worth mentioning in terms of emotional spectrum. Even the set design - which is always very handsomely executed - is just ruthlessly on-brand. It looks precisely like "Star Wars stuff" or "Marvel stuff" or whatever, without exception, to a point where it all just becomes branded noise. Not a single thing is new or out of place. It constantly calls back and feeds into itself; nothing new under the sun. I agree that Rogue One was a little bit of an exception, at least in terms of plot/emotions. I would also put Episode 8 in that category. Maybe I'm just watching the wrong kinds of movies.

JadeNB 5y ago

I was wondering if even The Economist was so out of touch as to fail to notice that the trend was moving away from lockdowns lifting, but I see that the article is from July 3, when things looked rather different.

elzbardico 5y ago
Are lockdowns coming back in the UK for real? I had the opposite impression from the news in the last two weeks. Some concern about variants, a push for vaccine passports from Boris’ cabinet, but no much talk of lockdowns. Please remember, The Economist is a British magazine. There is a world outside American borders.
- JadeNB 5y ago
  I expect lockdowns to come back neither in the US nor in the UK, but hope for them to come back in both places.
  - brink 5y ago
    Yeah, you can keep your economic and psychological ruin to yourself, thanks.
    - JadeNB 5y ago
      Nobody, including me, thinks lockdowns are good, but the effects of removing them too early (as my residence in the US did) seem to me to be even worse.
  - heurisko 5y ago
    In the UK, lockdowns doubled mental health referrals amongst young people [1] and there was a sharp increase in alcohol related deaths [2]. I hope they don't return, given we now have a vaccine. I also doubt their efficacy, with cases declining in some cases before lockdowns began. They are not a cost-free public health tool, and it is unknown whether they have caused more harm than good. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/young-mental-health-referrals-double-in-england-after-lockdown https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/young-mental... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/surge-in-alcohol-related-deaths-in-england-during-lockdown-report-finds https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/surge-in-alc...

hmsshagatsea 5y ago

How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again?

mycodesucks 5y ago
Nah, more of the same super hero garbage please, uhg.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jondwillis 5y ago
May I direct you to every single A24 film?
- kmlx 5y ago
  there are lots of a24 studios out there. but they’re tiny, they release few films with modest revenues.
kmlx 5y ago
not sure if this is coming back anytime soon: 1. games are a much bigger market than movies, which makes hollywood even more risk averse than usual 2. superhero movies make most income, sucking up all the talent 3. huge emphasis on TV series in the last decade, again sucking up all the talent for these three reasons i’m not sure if i’ll see another sin city/training day/etc in the near future
- tayo42 5y ago
  Tv is a better format for visual story telling then movies could ever be. now that we have streaming its not bound to time limits or irrelevant commercial pacing. The stories are longer and can be more in depth. Does TV get the best talent though? For some reason I thought they get paid less despite doing alot more work. All those actors from got went on to try movies afterwards.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

This would be the best thing for improved mental health in many years.

grae_QED 5y ago

Good. I hope they all go out of business. Their predatory practices are the reason why social media is so toxic. I'm honestly amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be and they are probably over spending on them [1]. [1] https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/researchdetail?guid=ea2451f1-08f0-11e7-9872-0050569b3e41 https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/resear...

the-dude 5y ago
I know half of my advertisement budget is wasted, I just don't know which half. Plus your source is about TV ads only.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
TechBro8615 5y ago
The largest media companies are loss-leaders for telecom conglomerates. They don't actually need to be profitable.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Could you expand on this? I don't get it.
  - TechBro8615 5y ago
    I mean that Comcast, ATT and Verizon collectively own a large portion of US media corporations – including CNN and MSNBC. You can quibble about the semantics of ownership, but the control of media is concentrated in a small cluster of last century's monopolies. There is an infographic here: https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-90-media-america-illusion-choice-objectivity-2020/ https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-9...
    - the-dude 5y ago

anonfornoreason 5y ago

I’d be interested in seeing a regional breakdown of media consumption trends. Echoing several other comments, my media consumption habits were broken during 2020. People in the Pacific Northwest flooded outdoors and started camping and doing other outdoor activities at a record pace. That alone had to have shifted demand for passive media consumption. Obviously tv shows and movies are different from checking online news nonstop (something that was driven higher during pandemic) so any insights would have to be broken out by medium and type.

chaircher 5y ago
Yeah I started spending loads of time at home where I have control over my environment and found I didn't have to contantly turn to media for escapism any more. And because I'm not oversaturated with content any more I'm able to rengage with things like fiction books and naff movies that I wouldn't have had the patience for in the sea of outrage I was stuck in before 2020. In turn this has stopped me being burnt out by sheer interaction/pseudointeraction and I'm able to do outdoor activities without my headphones on and risk bumping into people I know who might want a chat. It's made me a lot pickier though, we all talk about the high prices of cinema, but where I live they're not very pleasant environments and why would I expose myself to that any more? I think perhaps because the pace of life has slowed down durring lockdown people's decision making can keep up a bit better and this is reflected in higher standards as we choose what to reengage with

4e530344963049 5y ago

https://trimread.org/articles/44 https://trimread.org/articles/44

jacob2484 5y ago

How much woke virtue signaling can one take? Even Bill Maher agrees.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> Even Bill Maher agrees. Bill Maher is a shallow elite contrarian, not a progressive that it would make sense to say “Even” about when he agrees with criticism of something perceived to be on the left.
- spiderice 5y ago
  I love how now that he disagrees he's suddenly "not a progressive".
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    I love that now that you encounter a position that I've held and expressed consistently for long enough that it could legally vote if it was a person, and which has been quite common on the Left for at least as long, you act like its a sudden change. I get that he opposes some things sacred to the Right, and that to people on the Right that makes him Left, but...
  - faeriechangling 5y ago
    Bill Maher back around 9/11 had a slide deck act where he justified racial profiling in airports with a picture of a fundamentalist Muslim in traditional garb going through airport security. He once literally hosted a talk show called "Politically Incorrect" He has always been "I'm leftist, but I have a politically incorrect anti-establishment edge.". He has been saying things like this for decades.
    - slothtrop 5y ago
      Politically Incorrect was canned when, in disagreement on teh show, he said the terrorists weren't cowards, that bombing a country (Iraq) including innocents from offshore was cowardice. Referring of course to physical / mortal cowardice, not moral cowardice, in which case he's right.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

I can totally imagine that. I cancelled my TV subscription as it was all about corona all the time. So depressing. Now that I've done without for so long I don't think ever getting live TV again. My use of mainstream news sites has also dropped to near zero, just a one check per day. I focus more on tech news these days (stuff that really matters :) )

marto1 5y ago
Now realize a lot of people just..kept watching. Scary stuff.
- amelius 5y ago
  It was just the same news over and over again ...

daemonhunter 5y ago

Looks like it’s all just in time for delta

JCM9 5y ago

Good content wins. Media has gotten away with producing junk for too long. Media complaining about a lack of “attention” is like employers complaining about a lack of workers. Give people a good job and pay them well and you’ll have no trouble finding workers. Produce good content and you’ll have no trouble getting eyeballs. Pretend like old normals still apply and it will be painful on both fronts.

coffeeling 5y ago
It's not just that they've gotten away with producing junk, it's that they're actively becoming / making themselves more junky by the minute.

paulpauper 5y ago

Thankfully, with delta varient the media can rejoice for more lockdowns

jgalt212 5y ago

The Delta variant is their great white hope.

Fellshard 5y ago

If you think they'll simply allow this to happen, I've got a UHF channel in Brooklyn to sell you.

robertofmoria 5y ago

There is this strange talk of breaking the habit when it comes to entertainment. The "habit" was already breaking, but not because people do not want to go to theaters. People were turning off, tuning out, and not going because shows, sports, and movies were no longer providing escapes. Everything is becoming political and lecturing.

kbos87 5y ago

This is already happening. I work for a large b2b saas company - many of our attention-oriented metrics (eg traffic, top of funnel lead generation) are off by 20-40% year over year. We are hearing that peers are seeing the same thing. People are sick of screens and relishing the offline world, which is even touching B2B.

jtsiskin 5y ago

Great new conspiracy theory, that the media is purposely trying to make the virus seem worse so people will stay inside looking at ads. Or further “evidence” that the virus was created by the global elite for wealth and control Fortunately not many conspiracy theorists likely subscribe to the economist